No time to 'play politics' with lives of residents, says Norman Wells, N.W.T., mayor

The mayor of Norman Wells, N.W.T., says there's no time to "play politics" as his community grapples with high fuel prices, and dropping temperatures.

The average temperature in Norman Wells over the next seven days is expected to be in the negative double digits, and Mayor Frank Pope says residents are scared.

Pope is continuing to call on the territorial and federal government to help his community, as freezing temperatures are setting in and the price of gasoline is still more than $3.60 per litre.

"My community does not have time to play politics with the lives of our residents, but we are still awaiting a response which will set our minds at ease for this winter," he said in a written statement.

Speaking to CBC News, Pope said he didn't know what he was going to do.

"I'm scared, the community is scared, and we're not getting an awful lot of stuff back from the federal government, the territorial government — nothing," he said.

Prices skyrocketed in the 750-person community after historic low water levels on the Mackenzie River grounded resupply barges this summer. That forced fuel to be flown in — a costly alternative.

Calls for action to reduce fuel costs in Norman Wells started in early October. Pope told CBC News at the time that he expected prices for heating oil and gasoline to almost double, to more than $5 per litre.

Since then town officials declared a state of emergency, and the issue was debated in the Legislative Assembly. Imperial Oil also announced it would temporarily reduce the wholesale price of heating oil by $1.69. But there's a catch: once the company can truck fuel in again, it will keep charging the air transportation cost until it recoups that money.

The territorial government introduced $1.8 million in support for businesses and indigenous and community governments affected by barge cancellations, agreeing to pay up to half of the additional transportation costs to a maximum of $30,000 per organization. The territory also increased senior home heating subsidies in Norman Wells and donated $150,000 to the town's food bank. 

Despite all the support, Pope said Norman Wells residents are "still in dire straits." 

As of Thursday afternoon in Norman Wells, home-heating fuel prices were $2.98 per litre, gasoline was $3.66 and diesel was $3.78.

"Some people are worried about whether or not they can pay their mortgage, heat their house and eat, all at the same time. A lot of us are not going to be able to do that, especially myself, my family," Pope said.

When Norman Wells town council passed the motion to declare the state of emergency, officials asked for $6.6 million to cover the costs of getting more heating fuel into the community. At the time, town councillors asked the territory to declare a state of emergency in the Sahtu community, for humanitarian reasons, which would allow the territory to go to the federal government for support. 

If the territory agrees to declare a state of emergency, that gives Municipal and Community Affairs Minister Vince McKay the authority to fix the price of fuel under the Emergency Management Act.

Pope said he doesn't understand why Sahtu MLA Danny McNeely has not yet brought forward a motion to do that yet.

"It's just frustrating – the initial ask was for the federal government to cover that $6.6 million, not the GNWT [Government of Northwest Territories]. We want the GNWT to come to the table and start planning for the future," Pope said. 

In a written statement, N.W.T. government spokesperson Jeremy Bird said the government is committed collaborating with the federal government, Imperial Oil and local Norman Wells leadership to help Norman Wells residents. He also pointed to the supports the government has already provided, such as the $150,000 food bank donation and increases to seniors home heating subsidy.

"This government takes the crisis in Norman Wells very seriously," Bird said.

"Our focus is not only on short-term relief for residents and businesses but also on long-term solutions to improve supply reliability in the Sahtu region."

CBC News has contacted McNeely, who said on Thursday afternoon that he was working on a response.

On Saturday, Imperial Oil also shared an update with Norman Wells town officials, saying additional efficiencies were found, allowing the company to reduce the wholesale fuel price by an additional 33 cents.

Pope said if the gasoline and heating fuel could get back to $2 per litre, he would be happy.

"That would give us time to pull our community together and worry about all the other issues we're up against right now, such as high costs for groceries and all the rest of the stuff," Pope said.

Pope said he is worried about losing his community if prices stay high.

"A lot of people are talking about when the winter road opens at the end of December, going south and maybe not returning."